Penn State’s Yanic Konan Niederhauser, who is expected to be the centerpiece of Nittany Lions basketball next season, made two major announcements Tuesday. First, the 7-foot forward who started 29 games for Penn State last season said he plans to declare for the 2025 NBA Draft.
But if he goes undrafted, Niederhauser said he will return to Penn State for his senior season. Niederhauser made the announcements in social media post.
“With careful consideration, I’ve decided to declare for the 2025 NBA Draft,” Niederhauser wrote in the post. “In the meantime, I will maintain my college eligibility. In case I decide to withdraw from the draft, I will return to Penn State for my Senior year. I’m excited to see what the future holds!”
The second part is good news for a Penn State basketball program that loses five seniors and has had three players from its 2024 recruiting class enter the NCAA Transfer Portal. Niederhauser is Penn State’s top returning player in terms of minutes, points and rebounds and represents the core of coach Mike Rhoades’ 2025 roster.
Niederhauser ranked second on the team in scoring (12.9 points per game), led the Nittany Lions in rebounds (6.3) and blocks (67 for the season) and was fourth in minutes per game (25.1). He was Penn State’s most consistent interior presence and the offensive catalyst in a pair of late-season Big Ten wins over Nebraska (19 points) and Minnesota (24). Niederhauser had 15 points and 11 rebounds in Penn State’s season-ending upset win at Wisconsin.
Rhoades signed Niederhauser as a transfer player after the forward spent two seasons at Northern Illinois. There, Niederhauser made 26 starts during the 2023-24 season, averaging 7.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Niederhauser is originally from Switzerland and played with a German professional club team in 2021-22.
“You hope when you bring in guys as freshmen, transfers, whatever, that they have hunger to get better, that they have urgency to get better,” Rhoades said. “And I just felt really good when we were recruiting Yanic that he wants to get after it and work at it. And he has.”
For Rhoades, Niederhauser’s decision to return if he withdraws from draft consideration represents a huge offseason victory. The Penn State coach must rebuild another roster in his third season with the program. Gone is a group of high-minute seniors, led by Ace Baldwin Jr., Zach Hicks and Nick Kern Jr.
Rhoades’ team also lost senior Puff Johnson to a season-ending injury after 17 games and now must refill a 2024 recruiting class that could lose three of its four players to the portal. Niederhauser and guard Freddie Dilione V are two of the players Rhoades needs to retain most.
“He’s very coachable,” Rhoades said of Niederhauser after the regular season ended. “… He’s a guy who took great advantage of that throughout the summer and preseason. He had ability; we all saw that from day one. But I just think he picked the right place [in Penn State] that could utilize his skillset, the style of play and being a versatile big guy. He made a great decision.
“But the other part of it is, even in the last two months, he has a hunger to get better. And when he’s had good days, he’s built on it. When he’s had a bad day or a bad game, he’s taken it to heart to get better. His approach from being here from June of last year is a reason why he’s turned into the player at this level that he has, and I think he’s hungry to do it even to a higher level, which is refreshing.”
Niederhauser has some key dates ahead over the next 10 weeks. College players have until April 26 to meet the NBA’s deadline for early entry into the draft. The NBA G League Combine is scheduled for May 9-11, and the NBA Draft Combine is set for May 11-18. After that. the early entry withdrawal deadline is June 15, which means Niederhauser can attend the combines and decide his plans by mid-June.
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